Just one more day
by mysdemeanor
Summary: DeathFic, AlWin, suggested RoyEd, sorry if it's sad, written as a response to a personal family crisis, rated for subject material
1. Chapter 1

I felt my heart stop as the news struck me; he was gone, him and one of the little military orphans he had taken in. When? How? Why? The questions flooded through me like water flowing from a faucet. True I hadn't talked to him in...what had it been? Months? but that wasn't unusual, especially now that their infamous quest was over and both he and Al had settled down, Al with my granddaughter and Ed in his own place in Central. Shoot, they'd both even gotten jobs, good jobs, bent on helping people. Why did such terrible things always happen to the dearest of people? Why is it that good kids have the toughest of luck? Why Ed?

I sunk down to my knees as the men in military blue started back down the walk, I didn't know them and they didn't know me, but they forever would stay imprinted in my mind as the harbingers of destruction. It was the same as when they came to tell me of my son and my daughter-in-law's passing, except then, I had to be strong. Now, without anyone around me that needed my shoulder to lean on, I felt myself beginning to break down. Why was I alone? Did Winry know yet? Or worse, did Al? I knew deep down I should call them but I couldn't bring myself to. What happened if it was my call that made them truly realize that Ed was really gone? A sob stuck in my throat and I didn't know who to feel worse for; Ed and the little child, who were both long gone, or Al and Winry and the others like me who were left behind to pick up the pieces. Tears trickled down my face.

I sat there like that for an immeasurable amount of time, not knowing if what I had heard was real or if I had dreamed the entire thing. No other news reached my ears for that entire while, nor anything else for that matter. To me, the world was as dead as he was as I struggled to come to grips with this reality. I realized that beyond what little I watched him as he was growing up, Ed and I were never really that close, and because of such, I didn't hurt as much for my loss as I did for the loss that I knew his younger brother and my granddaughter were feeling. I pulled myself to my feet and reached for the phone. As my fingers grazed the cold casing, it shrilled out an echoing ring into my silent house. I took a deep breath and answered it with as steady a voice as I could manage.

"Rockbell Automail Maintenance and Mechanics." My voice held true, which I was thankful of when the stuttering voice on the other end of the line came through.

"G-Grandma?" Winry. That meant they knew.

"Yes?"

"Grandma, I don't know what to do! Al, he just, he won't stop screaming! I'm not enough, I can't help him at all, please Grandma help me!"

A spasm of sorrow swept through my shuddering chest.

"Winry, please start from the beginning, I can't help you if I don't know what's happening."

"Ed, he's in the hospital Grandma, and he's dead! Colonel Mustang brought us here this morning and there's nothing we can do!

"Winry, calm down, you must be strong now, ok? Now, what did Mustang tell you?"

I could hear her breathing catch as she stifled a sob, and somewhere in the background a doctor, or so I assumed, was talking about the signs of brain death in young patients as a deeper voice pleaded that their loved one be kept alive long enough for another guardian to arrive. I closed my eyes against my own threatening tears and addressed the phone in a gentler voice.

"Winry, honey, please tell me what the doctors and Mustang have told you."

She hiccuped but soon enough found her voice.

"They said that last night Ed had been driving from Gracia Hughes house after he picked up his two foster kids and was headed home when he had a flashback and drove into oncoming traffic. They showed me a picture of his car, Grandma, nobody should have survived but they originally thought that the little boy he had with him would be okay and the little girl walked away with barely a scratch, but now the little boy is dead and the girl is in surgery for brain damage. I knew those kids, they were as much Ed's family as he was to us! I don't know what to do! I haven't even told Trisha yet, I just left her with our neighbors and we rushed here. She thinks of them as her cousins, and she loved her Uncle Ed so much! I don't even know how to explain death to her yet. Please Grandma, help me!"

Winry began bawling again and I felt my own tears break through and run silently down my face. At least I knew the whole story now, and not just the glossed over report given by the officers who had visited me this morning. I wiped away my tears and coughed to let Winry know I was still there.

"Honey?" My voice was sounding frail even in my own ears. "Winry, I'm off to the train station now, I'll be in Central by tomorrow. We'll get through this together." She hiccuped again. "I love you, and I'll see you soon, okay?"

I could barely understand her as she whimpered out an affirmative.


	2. Chapter 2

The trip to the bustling city that was Central was tense and uncomfortable. I spent most of my time figuring out ways to make everything better for everyone. I planned Trisha's birthday party, made a list of things to do with Al to keep his mind busy, wrote out a shopping list for a care package, and even named off every relative I knew of that would need to be told of Ed's...passing. Still the time just trickled by in such tiny increments I began believing that such a thing as a split second should be considered a logical chronological measurement. By the time the train had pulled into the station, I could have sworn that I had aged five years as opposed to 24 hours. The feeling of death hung heavy in my heart and the ticking of a nearby clock deafened my ears.

As I stepped off the train, I was greeted by yet more military personnel. Winry stood to the back of them looking as broken as I felt. I made my way over to her carefully, certain that with any wrong move everything underneath my feet would fall away and my life truly would be forfeited as well. A young gentleman in a blue military overcoat like I had seen on Ed so many times in the past few years gently took my elbow when he saw me, looking to Winry for direction. My granddaughter nodded, reaching her hand out for mine. She clasped it tightly in her strong grip when we reached her, and between the two young people, I was lead out to a military issue car. I felt somewhat relieved that their youthful strength had seemed to keep my tears away as we all solemnly piled in.

The car pulled out cautiously into the highway, driven by the man who had helped me to Winry. I sat in the back with my blonde-haired little girl, stroking her hair as she rested her head in my lap. I could feel burning wet drops hit my legs occasionally, letting me know that she was silently crying and I felt my heart clench in sympathy. After a while, she turned her head to look at me, eyes bloodshot and nose running like a child. I let my hand linger on her cheek, smoothing away tears and the pain of the past few hours as I felt tears of my own gracing my creased face. I mouthed out the words 'I love you,' to her, wishing that my presence could be enough to make her smile again, but knowing that that wouldn't be true for the time being. She clenched her eyes shut, mouthing back in between stutters for breath, 'I love you too, Granny.' My hand went to hers and for the remainder of the journey we sat there clinging to one another in sorrowful silence, wanting nothing more than to just exist in a stoic obliviousness.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the car was parked and the engine cut. The man in the front looked back at us with pity and opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't seem to get the words out. Eventually, he opted for getting out of the vehicle himself and opening one of the back doors for my granddaughter and me. Winry sat up and wiped the worst of her tears away, letting her other hand be taken by the man. He carefully helped her from the car before he turned to me. I shooed his hand away and took a deep breath. It was time for me to be strong again


End file.
